Endovascular and surgical interventions in the end-stage renal disease population

Patients with end-stage renal disease require renal replacement therapy, which is most frequently performed via hemodialysis. To perform hemodialysis, a dialysis catheter or arteriovenous fistula or graft is needed as a means of vascular access. Once this initial surgical vascular access has been created, access maintenance can be performed using endovascular techniques. This special series encompasses a comprehensive multidisciplinary overview of advancements in these endovascular and surgical interventions in the end-stage renal disease population. It also sheds light on evolving technologies, such as endovascular arteriovenous fistula creation and the current evidence for the use of drug-coated balloons in vascular access maintenance.

In their paper, Walker and Gadegbeku (1) emphasize the urgency of addressing health disparities in the end-stage renal disease population based on national guidelines. Richarz and colleagues (2) describe the preoperative imaging workup for vascular access creation and propose the use of advanced modalities as problem-solving tools for specific clinical questions. The paper by Ruff et al. (3) addresses the medical and endovascular management of atherosclerotic disease in the end-stage renal disease population. Montelongo and colleagues (4) outline various surgical creation techniques for upper extremity vascular access, whereas Alnahhal, Williams, and Kirksey (5) focus on surgical creation of lower extremity vascular access in patients with supradiaphragmatic central venous occlusion. Alnahhal, Rowse, and Kirksey (6) address the best approach for obtaining vascular access in clinical challenging cases. A paper by Li et al. (7) provides an overview of the novel technique of endovascular arteriovenous fistula creation in selected patients with suitable vascular anatomy. Saati and colleagues (8) discuss the role of duplex ultrasound in noninvasive vascular access surveillance. In their paper, Gonzalez et al. (9) focus on multimodality imaging of arteriovenous fistula and grafts in patients with end-stage renal disease. DePietro and Trerotola discuss the role of plain balloon angioplasty (10) and drug-coated balloon angioplasty (11) for vascular access maintenance in the end-stage renal disease population. In his paper, McLennan (12) describes stenting approaches for dialysis access maintenance. Wu, Kalva, and Cui (13) describe thrombectomy techniques used for the endovascular treatment of thrombosed vascular access, as well as the potential complications of these methods. A paper by Sharma et al. (14) discusses the role of tunneled dialysis catheters in the initiation of hemodialysis, including an overview of atypical infradiaphragmatic access site options for catheter placement. Two articles in this series address the challenge of central venous stenotic and occlusive disease in patients with chronic kidney disease. First, a paper by Alnahhal, Rowse, and Kirksey (15) provides an overview of management options for central venous disease. Second, an article by Rashwan and colleagues (16) describes endovascular recanalization techniques for central venous occlusion. Finally, a paper by Johnston, Jin, and Morris (17) discusses peritoneal dialysis catheter placement techniques as an alternative to hemodialysis for renal replacement therapy in the end-stage renal disease population.

This special series entails a collection of high-quality manuscripts dealing with endovascular and surgical management in the end-stage renal disease population. We are certain that the readers of Cardiovascular Diagnosis and Therapy will be equally excited about the special series as we were while editing and preparing this nice collection of articles.

Acknowledgments

Funding: None.

Footnote

Provenance and Peer Review: This article was commissioned by the editorial office, Cardiovascular Diagnosis and Therapy for the series “Endovascular and Surgical Interventions in the End Stage Renal Disease Population”. The article did not undergo external peer review.

Conflicts of Interest: Both authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at https://cdt.amegroups.com/article/view/10.21037/cdt-23-25/coif). The series “Endovascular and Surgical Interventions in the End Stage Renal Disease Population” was commissioned by the editorial office without any funding or sponsorship. SP and LK served as the unpaid Guest Editors of the special series. SP serves as the unpaid editorial board member of Cardiovascular Diagnosis and Therapy from September 2021 to August 2023. The authors have no other conflicts of interest to declare.

Ethical Statement: The authors are accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Open Access Statement: This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits the non-commercial replication and distribution of the article with the strict proviso that no changes or edits are made and the original work is properly cited (including links to both the formal publication through the relevant DOI and the license). See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.

Sasan Partovi

Levester Kirksey

References

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2. Richarz S, Isaak A, Aschwanden M, et al. Pre-procedure imaging planning for dialysis access in patients with end-stage renal disease using ultrasound and upper extremity computed tomography angiography: a narrative review. Cardiovasc Diagn Ther 2022; [Crossref]
3. Ruff C, Artzner C, Nikoalou K, et al. Atherosclerotic plaque composition and specific endovascular considerations in the end stage renal disease patients: a narrative review. Cardiovasc Diagn Ther 2022; [Crossref]
4. Montelongo S, Brooks DE, Klopfenstein J, et al. Surgical creation of upper extremity arteriovenous fistula and grafts: a narrative review. Cardiovasc Diagn Ther 2022; [Crossref]
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11. DePietro DM, Trerotola SO. Choosing the right treatment for the right lesion, part II: a narrative review of drug-coated balloon angioplasty and its evolving role in dialysis access maintenance. Cardiovasc Diagn Ther 2022; [Crossref]
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17. Johnston G, Jin G, Morris CS. Image-guided tunneled peritoneal dialysis catheter placement. Cardiovasc Diagn Ther 2021; [Crossref]